smol murder family
by StargateNerd
Summary: When Root is in Tokyo saving Daizo, they stumble onto an undercover FBI operation. This wouldn't be so bad if the operation in question didn't involve a little girl who reminds Root so much of herself, and she needs little prompting from the Machine to "rescue" Ai Haibara from the FBI's inept clutches.
1. Chapter 1

It starts when Root is in Tokyo, pulling Daizo behind a conveniently placed dumpster to avoid being shot. Their pursuers are a couple of angry men who are real police officers if Root is an avid fan of country music, which she most certainly is not. She tells Daizo to stay behind her and he nods, all too happy to let this frighteningly cheerful woman with more ammo than is reasonable take care of the men who want to kill him.

Their aims are atrocious, and if the Machine hadn't already verified that they, despite their uniforms, are _not_ listed in the Tokyo PD's employment records, she would have made a disparaging remark about the quality of police officers these days. As it is only 24 seconds pass before Root has shot both men, one in the right shoulder, the other in his leg (she can almost hear Harold lecturing on using non-lethal means). Daizo looks suitably impressed, turning to her with an almost reverent gaze and profusely thanking her in Japanese while the Machine translates almost instantaneously.

Root is about to reply when a door further down the alley opens and a heavy man with at _least_ six inches on her peers out. He has a gun held firmly in his hand and the way he does a sweep of the alley before his gaze rests on Root and Daizo has her pushing the young man behind her as the Machine feeds her information about angles and predicted response times.

"What happened here?" the man asks. He speaks Japanese with a noticeable accent (American Northwest, Root thinks before she receives data on the FBI agent, Andre Camel, in front of her).

"They disagreed with me on whether Daizo here should live or die," she says glibly in English (she really needs to work on somehow making it possible for the Machine to download languages in her brain without the unfortunate consequence of frying her brain or driving her mad. Well, more than she already is). "Agent Augusta King, FBI."

Agent Camel's brow furrows. "How do I know you're telling the truth?" he asks, speaking English now.

"Well I could show you my ID, but in a situation like this when firearms are so dangerous, well..." The corners of Root's lips turn up in a patronizing smile.

Agent Camel's eyes narrow and his gaze flickers towards the inside of the building. "Take my phone and call Jodie-san," he says quietly in Japanese, probably thinking that Root doesn't understand him.

A split-second of warning is all she gets, her free hand darting out behind her and tightly gripping Daizo's arm. "Running now will not help," she tells him in a voice barely above a whisper. "I didn't come all this way just to get you killed right under my nose, so stay put."

"Those men, there might be more of them!" Daizo hisses.

"I will know if any of their friends come within a five block radius of us," Root assures him, confident in the Machine's information as well as her own capabilities to protect him. She turns back to Agent Camel with a widely insincere smile. His eyes narrow a bit before he turns back to the room.

The mic of a laptop on a desk picks up a small and calm voice saying, "Her story checks out. Jodie-sensei says Agent King is currently bringing Shimizu Daizo-san in for witness protection so he can testify against his former employers." The voice's way of speaking is that of someone much older than the little girl the laptop's webcam can see, and the information - or rather lack thereof, as this false identity is good, but not up to Harold's standards, or even Root herself - on her is intriguing.

Agent Camel still looks suspicious, but he lowers his gun and opens the door further, an unspoken invitation. Root likewise holsters her's, though it is still in easy reach if she needs it. She pulls Daizo in front of her and they enter the building.

Haibara Ai watches Agent King and her companion with no small amount of wariness and distrust. Jodie Starling may have cleared Agent King, but there was something about her that set Ai more on edge than usual. Not a member of the Organization, no, she didn't exude enough bloodlust for that, but she was definitely dangerous. Shimizu-san looks about as nervous as Ai feels, though that may have been from having people who wanted to kill him.

"Sit down," the woman tells Shimizu-san in English. "You know I'll keep you safe." He nods and follows her order even as he bites nervously at his bottom lip. Agent King smiles at him and Ai has to hold back a shiver as she turns and looks at her because there is no mistaking that this woman is a predator.

"That's a nice laptop," Agent King says, looking at the one piece of Ai's life that she'd been able to bring with her from (her) Agasa-hakase's home. "Is it your's?"

Ai nods. "Yes," she replies in English. "I play games on it, among other things." Agent King smirks and tilts her head slightly, as though listening to something only she can hear.

"What kind of other things?"

Ai stares at her for a moment, gauging her words before asking, "Why?"

Agent King's smile widens and it is borderline terrifying. "Well, sweetie," she says in a confidential tone, "computers are something of a specialty of mine." She grins at Ai like they're sharing an inside joke, and it takes all Ai has not to run, because this is coldfeardark _danger_ and something must show in her eyes because then Agent King looks _sorry_ and she's reaching a hand out to place on her shoulder, crouching down so she's at eye level. "Hey, it's okay," she says soothingly. "We're going to protect you, all right?"

Ai almost believes her.

* * *

 **A/N:** so I got into Person of Interest because of justjoy on AO3 (presumenothing on tumblr) and we both LOVE dcmk so we came up with several AUs including this one and I just HAD to write something for it bc it's awesome also I used the actor's last name for Daizo bc the character does not have one :P

Little background, the Bell Tree Train plan goes awry and so Ai is awaiting being put into witness protection when Root happens upon her. PoI-wise, Shoot is already a thing, Joss is not dead/in a coma, and they kill the senator so Decima is not as imminent a threat.

It is my birthday today so I give you all a gift! Also please review ^_^


	2. Chapter 2

Jodie Starling was very accomplished for a woman who wasn't even thirty yet. Top of her year at the FBI Academy, protege of James Black himself, and a key investigator in one of the most frustrating, long term operations in FBI history since Al Capone (and the Prohibition Era in general). She was a force to be reckoned with, and not at all used to or pleased to be played for a fool.

This understandably led to quite a slew of mixed emotions when she learned her partner and former lover, Shuuichi Akai, was actually alive. She wasn't sure _how_ he survived being shot in the head at point blank range yet, and pushing Shuu for answers only led to him stonewalling her. The most difficult part of all this was remaining angry at him, because it was like her childhood dreams come true, a loved one rising from the somewhat literal ashes.

She had briefly wondered at the symbolism of her parents and Shuu both having perished in flames before dismissing it in favor of throwing herself into the latest lead on the Organization.

Like this fiasco on the Bell Tree Express.

Thankfully there hadn't actually been a fire, and no one was hurt when part of the train _blew up_ , but according to Cool Kid the bombs had been planted by Vermouth. Jodie's own personal feelings of the woman notwithstanding, someone who was that determined to see a child dead had fucking _issues_.

She also wasn't completely sure how to feel about the fact that apparently Cool Kid had known Shuu was alive, that they had been conspiring together. On the one hand, Conan Edogawa was very resourceful and it was a good thing he was on their side, but on the other hand... well, Cool Kid was just that. A kid.

He was a fucking _seven_ year old.

She had her suspicions about how and why he knew so much, just as she had her suspicions about how Vermouth still looked the same over twenty years later. There was no concrete proof but honestly, she was fine with being in the dark for now. She would know the truth eventually, just as she would eventually know the whole truth about why Vermouth was so fixated on Ai Haibara, as well as her relation to Sherry.

The phone rang and Jodie frowned as the ringtone she'd chosen for Camel resounded clearly. He wasn't supposed to call her unless it was absolutely necessary in order to cut down on the possibility of anyone getting the safe house's location by tracing her calls. "Camel?" she answered.

"Jodie-sensei, there is a woman outside who claims to be an FBI agent named Augusta King." Ai-chan did not bother with pleasantries and got straight down to business in that firm, quiet voice of hers. "She has shot two men wearing police uniforms and appears to be protecting a young man."

"Ai-chan, where are you?" Jodie demanded as she raced over to the desk in the hotel room where her laptop lay. She quickly entered her username and password that gave her access to the FBI database and typed in "Augusta King" under the field marked "Agent".

"I'm safe. Agent Camel is at the door standing guard. The cameras monitoring the alleyway are still working." There was an undercurrent of tension in her voice and Jodie pursed her lips at the almost unnoticeable fear that was quite skillfully hidden for such a young child.

The information she was looking for loaded on the screen and Jodie skimmed over it. "It looks like she's who she says to be," she told the girl. "Apparently she is in Japan to bring a Daizo Shimizu-san into protective custody in exchange for his testimony against his former employers." She frowned, eyes narrowed as she reread, looking for anything that didn't seem to fit. "I'll be over shortly. Be careful!"

Jodie may have broken a couple of speed limits getting to the safe house in as little time as she did while still taking the proper precautions to make sure she wasn't being followed. Not even may have, she definitely did. She had her weapon drawn as she approached the rundown building on the outskirts of the warehouse district. Just as Ai-chan said, there were two men in police uniforms at the mouth of the alleyway. The one had been shot in the leg and was applying pressure to it while the other had been shot in the right shoulder and looked to be unconscious.

She frowned as she noticed the uniforms were ill fitting, about a size too big on them. "Don't go anywhere unless you want to get shot," she told the conscious man as she relieved his companion of his gun before spotting another one ten feet down the alley. "I've already called the police." The man with the wounded leg bit out a slew of curses that Jodie ignored, having heard worse at the Academy training marathons. She retrieved other gun and then approached the closed door, knocking firmly.

Camel peered through the crack as he opened the door a bit before pulling it wide enough for Jodie to come in. "Thanks for coming," he said in English with a nod.

"No problem," Jodie replied, holstering her gun when she saw that Agent King's gun was likewise. "Hello," she greeted before pinching the brunette's cheeks.

"Strange way of greeting someone," Agent King remarked with a simpering smile. "Is that a Japanese custom?"

"Just to make sure you're not in disguise," Jodie assured her, somewhat off put by how cheerful Agent King seemed. Ai-chan sat in a chair by her laptop, clutching at a cup of tea and Jodie's frown deepened at the way she studiously avoided even looking in Agent King's direction. "What were you doing here?"

"I don't believe we've been introduced," Agent King chided, raising her eyebrows and inclining her head slightly.

"Agent Jodie Starling," Jodie nearly snapped. "Now what were you doing here?"

Agent King's eyebrows rose a bit more. "Daizo," she gestured to the young man sitting on the couch, "and I were being followed by a couple of men disguised as police officers who tried to kill us. There were a couple of convenient dumpsters down this alley and I took advantage of that to take them out of commission. I don't like being shot at, you see."

Jodie was unimpressed. "So the fact you just happened to stumble upon the only FBI safehouse in the area was just luck?"

"Well, I don't know about luck," Agent King said with a chuckle. "Divine intervention more like." She smiled, the corners of her lips twitching with unvoiced laughter.

It took everything Jodie had to keep from rolling her eyes. "Camel, call the police about our friends outside. I took the liberty of disarming them." She placed the guns on the table from where she'd tucked them between her skirt waistband and the small of her back.

"Ah, I must have forgotten in all the excitement," Agent King said with a slight wince, her smile a bit rueful.

"Lucky you did so when you had a senior agent to cover your back," Jodie reprimanded. "I'll call my supervisor for further instructions; who should he contact for you?"

"Agent Henry Sparrow," Agent King told her.

"Right. Don't go wandering off," Jodie ordered, still unsure as to why this woman got on her nerves so.

"Oh don't worry. We're all getting along just fine." Agent King grinned unnervingly.

Jodie scowled.

* * *

 **A/N:** So this is my first time writing from Jodie's POV when she is not the reincarnation of a Fushigi Yugi character and boy was it different! Also the tense change just kinda happened, sorry if that annoys anyone.

Anywho, I hope you enjoy, and make sure to review and stuff!


End file.
